The impact of migration on the food consumption and nutrition of left-behind family members: Evidence from a minority mountainous region of southwestern China

doi:10.1016/S2095-3119(19)62588-8

Journal of Integrative Agriculture

2019, Vol. 18

Issue (8): 1780-1792 DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(19)62588-8

Special Focus: Food economics and policies

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The impact of migration on the food consumption and nutrition of left-behind family members: Evidence from a minority mountainous region of southwestern China

MIN Shi¹, HOU Ling-ling¹, Hermann Waibel², HUANG Ji-kun¹, MU Yue-ying³

¹ China Center for Agricultural Policy, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R.China
² Institute of Development and Agricultural Economics, Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover 30167, Germany
³ College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, P.R.China

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Abstract

While migration is widely recognized as a valid option for improving farmers’ income, the welfare effects of migration on left-behind family members are ambiguous. This study examines the impacts of migration on left-behind family members’ food consumption and nutrient intake, particularly in remote rural areas in China. Based on household survey data collected from 611 smallholder rubber farmers in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture of southwestern China, the empirical results suggest that the migration of family members contributes to improving household net income, whereas it negatively affects left-behind family members’ consumption of grain and pork. Migration also leads to a decrease in left-behind family members’ nutrient intake. Surprisingly, the economic returns of farmers’ migration not only do not foster the transformation of household food consumption from a staple food-dominated dietary structure to one including more meat and dairy products but also reduce left-behind family members’ nutrient intake. This study adds to the literature on the impact of farmers’ migration. The findings have important implications for better understanding the impacts of migration on farmers’ livelihood and human capital development in rural China.

Keywords: migration food consumption nutrition left-behind

Received: 21 June 2018 Accepted:

Fund: This study was conducted under the framework of the Sino-German “SURUMER Project” funded by the Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft, Technologie und Forschung (BMBF; 01LL0919). This work was also supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M620536) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71742002, 71673008, and 71761137002).

Corresponding Authors: Correspondence HOU Ling-ling, E-mail: llhou.ccap@pku.edu.cn

About author: MIN Shi, E-mail: min.ccap@pku.edu.cn;

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MIN Shi, HOU Ling-ling, Hermann Waibel, HUANG Ji-kun, MU Yue-ying. 2019. The impact of migration on the food consumption and nutrition of left-behind family members: Evidence from a minority mountainous region of southwestern China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 18(8): 1780-1792.

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